


Unfortunate

by pinball_mentality (orphan_account)



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Angst, Creative Title Is Creative, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I don’t know what else to tag, IT’S JUST ZELDA NOT KNOWING HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HERSELF, Love, Time Travel, Tragic Romance, adult timeline, cause why not, don’t worry it’s not intentional, i just figured i’d post it on here, i just figured i’d tag it, i mean it’s ocarina of time wdy expect, i think??, idk ocarina of time is super confusing, kind of star crossed lovers but not really, there are so many variations of that tag jfc, this was written like 2 years ago and it’s super sucky and old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25323058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/pinball_mentality
Summary: "Is it selfish that I miss you?"Or, the one where Zelda can never see Link again because of her selfless mistake, and she mulls over what could have been for the rest of her days.[this was written like two years ago and is very old and sucky, but feel free to read if you want. my writing style is very different now and i cringe reading this.]
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	Unfortunate

**Author's Note:**

> god this is so old and bad i can’t even express how much i hated rereading this
> 
> anyways, enjoy!!

"Is it selfish that I miss you?"

She stares up at the statue of her beloved, days after the Evil One's defeat. Her gloved hands lay at her sides, head tilted upwards, back straight, and she stayed like that for hours. She didn't mind the tears running down her cheeks. She should be helping her people, she knew, but she couldn't help it. Impa was a blow to the heart, sure, but she thought that as long as she had Link she'd be okay.

She was right, in a sense.

She was okay, even when she was caged in a pink crystal high up in the air. She was okay, even when everyone around her died because of the weakening state of her country. She was okay, until the thought popped into her head that _maybe he doesn't want to be here._

She was okay, up until her heart said _no_ and her mind said _yes_ and she was okay until she raised the blue instrument to her mouth and played the fateful song and gave back what she had taken so long ago.

She was okay until it was too late and the last thing she heard from him was a faint _"I love you"_ and her own lips trembling as they whispered out an _"I love you, too."_

She wasn't even sure if he had heard her.

Zelda only shook out of her stupor when the sun had long gone and one of the night guards took pity on her and handed her a slice of bread. It was only then that she realized she had not eaten all day.

She thanked him and wiped her pale cheeks, walking up to her barely-intact bedroom. She slipped into her nightdress, turning the lights off. Her diadem was set on her worn nightstand, glistening in the sliver of moonlight peeking through her thin window curtains.

She hugged a pillow close to her chest and if she tried hard enough, she could almost pretend it was Link next to her. The princess could swear she heard his voice in the room. _Good night, princess._ He says. _Go to sleep, Zelda._

And she does, with a quiet _Good night, Link. Sleep well, hero._

And then she wakes up to an empty bed and a dusty pillow case and she starts the routine all over again.

* * *

She is old and wrinkly, now. She did not marry, nor bear children. She had adopted, much against the council's protests, their begging for the bloodline to stay pure. _Changes are needed,_ she had said, and stormed out of the room without another word.

Her kingdom was back to it's former glory, now. She had been a kind and fair ruler, though anyone with eyes could see that hers were filled with sadness and regret. She stands in front of the statue once more. "Is it selfish that I long for you once more? I miss you, Link."

And she could swear the statue's lips moved upwards- even slightly- and she can't handle it anymore. She lets loose one tear, then another, and her frail body is racked with sobs as she remembers her lost love and what could have been.

* * *

She heads to the throne room hours later, emotions carefully concealed in a mask she had perfected. She passes her brunette daughter (dutifully named Zelda), and smiles at her. But her daughter knows what she has been doing and puts a hand on her mother's shoulder and squeezes reassuringly.

 _Kind words and actions cannot bring him back,_ she thinks, but bites her tongue. It was not her child's fault. She smiles back and walks once more, a change of course in order. She heads to her bedroom, as frail and old as it's owner was. She knows there is no one to blame but herself for her decades of never ending grief, and touches fingers to the solitary, cold window.

She can see the garden from here, she thinks, and smiles a smile not fit for a ninety year old. It was old but older than her. It was the smile of ages long past, of the time when the goddesses had descended upon the earth. She idly wonders if any of them had ever had a lover like she had.

Her fingers trace a wavering line in the winter frost, clearing the view for the garden. A small smile graces her lips once more before she heads for her bed far too early.

* * *

She was older now. On her deathbed.

She had one child, a daughter, who gave her two wonderful grandchildren, a boy and a girl, who in turn gave her five great-grandchildren. Three boys and two girls. Two of the boys were twins, and one great-granddaughter she could tell was the one who would, in turn, give birth to the next Princess of Destiny.

Her time was nearly up. She could feel the goddesses warning her of her death.

So she lay in a lavish bed, one without tear-stains and rumpled sheets from a time long gone, and she can barely breathe, now. The fair and just Princess Zelda (for she was forever a young, beautiful Princess in the eyes of her citizens) had lived a long one hundred and three years. She was the oldest monarch yet, and she wished it was not so.

Surrounded by loved ones she was still ridden with a hole in her heart. It had been nearly ninety years of grief (eighty-six to be exact) and she held in her hands a small painting of her hero in green. She breathed a deep, shaky breath and smiled a teary smile at her family. _Thank you,_ she had said, _for putting up with an old, sad woman such as me._

 _No_ , they had said, _you are not old nor one to be put up with, but one to be yearned for. We love you, they had said, forever more._

They had not denied that she was sad, and for that she was grateful.

She turned to them- first her sobbing great-grandchildren, then her distraught grandchildren, and finally to her utterly broken daughter. _Remember him_ , Zelda, the Princess of Time had said. _Promise me you will pass on the story of the Hero of Time._

 _I promise,_ her daughter said. _I promise to tell his tale. It will be in books and murals and there will be songs praising the Hero of Time, and his lovely Princess Zelda._

The old woman had smiled. _But do not include Sheik. Make sure other princesses can use my alias when Ganondorf arises once more._

 _I will_ , the brunette had said, _I will. I love you._

And so, at one hundred and four years old, the once-young and still-lovely Princess Zelda of Hyrule died a fair lady, a forever maiden. And she had died on the midnight of her birthday, gaining one more year before her passing. The day she had sent Link off to relive a childhood he had missed.

And, when she had finally gone to live among the goddesses, her family heard one word uttered from her lips before she died.

_Link..._

But they did not see a young blond man garbed in green holding the maiden's hand. And they did not see the spirit of their young Princess rise from the old body laying on the bed, from ages before they were born.

They did not see two lovers reunited once more.

**Author's Note:**

> haha, i told you it was bad.
> 
> anyways, feel free to drop a review! it gives me that sweet, sweet serotonin.


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